Eurostat's proposed simplification of the work with the Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire Working Group meeting of 26-27 February 2015 Marilise Wolf-Crowther, Environmental statistics & accounts; Sustainable development

The problem Confidentiality issues when fewer than three producers per country for any one of 43 primary wood products The other partners in the JFSQ (UNECE, FAO and ITTO) expect to receive our validated data including our estimates, but this would be disclosive JFSQ data are collected in parallel and to similar deadlines as official production data collected with a legal basis Until 2008, the official production data had similar confidentiality problems as the JFSQ production data

The proposed solution Combine official data from PRODCOM (Community production in mining and manufacturing) with JFSQ data PRODCOM collated annually for the preceding year: Provisional data are available in July from Eurostat Final data are available in November from Eurostat Controlled rounding for EU aggregates: confidential data are suppressed for the Member States, Norway and Iceland Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg below the reporting threshold (<1% of EU production) Switzerland is not covered by PRODCOM

The classification of products (PRODCOM list) Both the JFSQ and PRODCOM are based on the Harmonised System, so alignment is fairly easy 24 products already aligned 138 products, mainly paper, are more detailed in PROCOM 3 types of pulp are more aggregated in PRODCOM, but this is useful Veneers will be aligned as of 2016 (for reference year 2015) 4 JFSQ products will be added to PRODCOM as of 2016

The EU-aggregates data compared Controlled rounding is applied to PRODCOM aggregates only Much larger numbers in PRODCOM for Veneers; Plywood; Particle board, OSB and similar board; MDF and Other fibreboard Much smaller numbers in PRODCOM for Sum of mechanical and semi-chemical wood pulp and pulp from fibres other than wood Sum of sulphate bleached and unbleached pulps Household and sanitary papers Other paper and paperboard n.e.s

Discrepancies to be investigated Eurostat to send each correspondent a link to the PRODCOM data in the database Correspondents are asked to investigate the differences for their country for 2008-2013. The Working Group is asked to support this measure Deadline for reporting discrepancies to Eurostat: 31 July 2015 Correspondents are asked to compare the data and inform Eurostat in case PRODCOM data should replace JFSQ data

Future co-operation with the international partners Eurostat to use PRODCOM EU-aggregates instead of calculating them from JFSQ submissions Share JFSQ submissions with UNECE, FAO and ITTO, without confidential items Publish JFSQ submission exactly as reported, with minimal validation Correspondents are requested to work closely with the PRODCOM unit of their national statistical institute when reporting JFSQ production data

Thank you for your attention! Published data JFSQ time series: Production and trade in primary products since 1992 Sawnwood and panels Pulp, paper and paperboard Thank you for your attention!

The Working Group is requested to provide support and give feedback on the proposal to – Ask the country correspondents to investigate the differences found between JFSQ data and PRODCOM data going back to 2008 – Use the EU aggregates from PRODCOM instead of calculating them from the JFSQ submissions – Share the JFSQ submissions with UNECE, FAO and ITTO, without the confidential items – Make correspondents aware that their JFSQ submissions will be published by Eurostat exactly as reported